The 2nd Amendment of the United States Constitution reads:
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
On December 15, 1791, the 2nd amendment became part of the first ten amendments in the Bill of Rights. The Supreme Court of the United States has since ruled that the right belongs to individuals, while also ruling that the right is not unlimited and does not prohibit all regulation of either firearms or similar devices. State and local governments are also limited to the same extent as the federal government from infringing upon this right. This right was based partially on the right to keep and bear arms in English common law and was influenced by the English Bill of Rights of 1689. The right has been described as an auxiliary right, supporting the natural rights of self-defense, resistance to oppression, and the civic duty to act in concert in defense of the state.
The 2nd amendment’s intent is clear, but it is hard to believe that in 1791 our Constitution’s framers imagined a world of semi-automatic rifles, high capacity magazines, and Uzis. Columbine, the Pulse Nightclub and the recent slaughter from a Mandalay Bay hotel window in Las Vegas would be horrors beyond their wildest imaginations.
U.S. citizens have a right to own firearms. But they currently can’t own 50 caliber machine guns or Thompson sub-machine guns. As the Supreme Court has ruled, the government has the right to restrict the types of firearms, munitions and accessories that can be sold and owned.
Firearms are a part of America’s history from early flintlocks to the vintage Colt 45 to the names Smith & Wesson and Remington. But be it for sport, hunting or self-defense there is no need for high capacity magazines. Nor is there a need for easily hidden and carried “breakdown” or “take-down” semi-automatic rifles. And there is absolutely no need for “Bump Stocks” or “GAT Cranks“, or any other device designed to enable a semi-automatic firearm function like a fully automatic one. Let’s not forget silencers or muzzle flash suppressors. They are designed to suppress recognition of a weapon being fired. None of these devices are needed for hunting or recreational shooting. But they make it easy for nut jobs to kill and maim innocents en masse.
The New American Party fully supports the right to bear arms. But we also believe in common sense limits to the kinds of firearms and accessories that can be sold and to whom. Legislation should be considered and passed that:
- Sets a minimum barrel length for rifles
- Limits magazine capacities to 9 rounds and forbids the manufacture, sale or possession of higher capacity magazines
- Requires enhanced background checks and waiting periods for purchases (including at Guns Shows)
- Prevents citizens on the U.S. “No Fly” list from purchasing or owning firearms.
- Forbids the sale, distribution, manufacture or ownership of GAT Cranks, Bump Stocks or other devices that enable semi-automatic firearms to function in a fully “automatic” manner, and require those items on the market or owned to be turned into the police for destruction
- Forbids the sale, distribution, manufacture or ownership of silencers and flash suppressors or other devices that serve the same purpose, and require those on the market or owned to be turned into the police for destruction
These restrictions are reasonable to reasonable people and do not infringe on Americans’ rights to firearms for self-defense, hunting or sport. They are not the beginning of a “slippery slope” to take away people’s guns. But they can help prevent the kind of carnage we seem to witnessed more frequently.
Separate Gun Facts from Fiction
It is important to separate the facts from the fiction in the heated rhetoric over gun control. Those who think “assault rifles” are “machine guns” are mistaken. Civilian ownership of machine guns is illegal except with an expensive Federal license. What are often described as assault weapons are simply semi-automatics rifles, like so many others, but with a military design like the AR-15. But high capacity magazines and devices like GAT cranks and bump stocks can turn any semi-automatic firearm into a more deadly and devastating “automatic” in the wrong hands.
Millions of Americans own and regularly use firearms safely and responsibly. They and their right to do so should be respected. The second amendment, and the courts, require it. But we must be vigilant in our efforts to keep firearms that can be used to inflict enormous harm out of the hands of those who would do just that. And we must invest more in mental health resources that might help identify those who may choose to inflict carnage. Reasonable people can agree on this. So should a reasonable and responsible gun industry. It’s a common sense approach that can preserve rights and save lives.